The craze of the 1950's - Paint By Number swept the nation in the era of Eisenhower, Levittown and post war prosperity, with its newly created marketing of leisure time.

In August, pine street art works will present Paint By Number: Anonymous Works From Mid 20th Century America, an exhibition of over 100 vintage paintings and related packaging and ephemera.

I decided to curate this exhibit because I am fascinated by the subversive allure of Paint By Number - the tension created between the pleasure of viewing and the original - and ongoing - horrified responses by the gate keepers of high culture.

Most of the Paint By Number sets of the fifties and early sixties depicted nostalgic scenes: historic and pastoral landscapes, christian religious images, adorable or noble animals, sentimental glimpses of far distant cultures as well as copies from the canon of romanticized European figurative art. Critics at the time were disgusted with the mechanized mass produced nostalgia.

I spent months buying Paint By Number works on eBay, sorting through thousands of offerings to chose images that worked on several levels. They had to be exciting to look at and represent either typical or unusual images in the genre. There is one example of the ubiquitous Last Supper, and one beautifully executed Mona Lisa. For landscapes I selected mostly regional New England type views: farmland, pastures, fall foliage. There is also a beautiful and rare series of Paris cityscapes.

A few of the typical subjects are not represented. Although I skipped most of the clowns, which were hugely popular, I found one fabulous example of a White Face Pierrot type clown based on a 1923 Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover. I also couldn't go for the "Exotic Oriental" paintings, or the "Noble Indian" paintings. except for one or two as examples.

There are many animal paintings in the collection chosen not just for their beauty and charm, but because this show is being run as a benefit for the Chittenden County Humane Society.

Animal lovers will have many fine paintings to chose from, and a portion of all gallery sales for the entire month will go to the Humane Society.

In addition to the 100+ paintings, I have also collected many original boxes with unfinished or unpainted canvases as well as the promotional and instructional brochures that came with them.

Because PBN was both popular and reviled, it showed up in a variety ways that were probably a surprise to its creators. Included in the pine street art works collection is this 1958 issue of Mad Magazine, and a reproduction poster of Andy Warhol's Do-It Yourself Seascape.

A million thanks to our sponsors for this show, Pet Food Warehouse and VBay, whose generous contributions helped pay for promotion.

Get ready for Art Hop 2007, which will be held on September 7th and 8th.
Pine street art works will be showing works by the fabulous, world renowned photographer, Connie Imboden.

Connie will be here for the weekend, which makes this an even bigger treat. Come see her work and say hello.

The show will stay up until the end of September.

I am a second generation vintage poster collector. My dad, Louis G. Cowan, was also a collector, specializing in War Propaganda posters. His collection is now housed at Columbia University. I got the fever from him. Or, maybe he got it from me, because I used to rip down supermarket and advertising posters and hang them up in my bedroom as a kid in the fifties. Whatever.

Although I am by no means a poster expert, I am a passionate poster lover, and in this show I bring to you posters from my personal collection, some of which are available for sale, as well as posters I have bought with sales in mind. These include circus posters, a William Steig Shell Oil poster, Perfumeria Ladifver 1903. and other delicious early 20th Century works.

In addition, I have print ephemera from 20th Century Burlington businesses: Diamond Dyes, Vermont Maid and Maltex.

If your business would like to sponsor a pine street art works benefit show, we'd love to talk to you. Upcoming benefits include COTS, Special Olympics, Outright Vermont and more. We will use your logo on all of our advertising and on our website.

Everybody wins! By supporting pine street art works benefits you are helping the sponsored organization as well as helping to keep the arts alive in Burlington. And your good name is recognized as a patron or matron of the arts and as a benefactor to the community. PSAW is not tax exempt, but you can deduct your business contribution as a marketing expense.